Avoid Phone Technical Support Scams

Cybercriminals claiming to be from Microsoft or an anti-virus company may call an unsuspecting victim on the phone. The victim’s information is usually obtained through publicly available phone directories so they scammer may also know other information such as the victim’s name and address when they call.

The victim will be informed that a virus or malware was detected on their computer or that their computer is having an issue. The cybercriminal may prompt the victim to check to see if certain files are on the computer that they will claim are a virus. They may prompt the victim to go to certain websites to convince them they need tech support.

The cybercriminal may prompt the victim for a user name and password, or to install software so they can access the computer in order to fix it. If the remote access software is successfully installed, the victims private data including passwords, user names, personal documents, images, financial information, and virtually all data on the computer has been compromised.

Victims of this scam are urged to secure their accounts including their financial accounts to ensure that they do not become further victim to the scam. It is recommended that the compromised computer be reset to the manufacturer default settings in order to ensure that the cybercriminal no longer have access to the computer. NOTE: Setting a computer to the manufacturer default settings will result in data loss,and may require technical support from a local computer repair company. Contact South City Computer today for professional computer technical support.

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